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Former Marine killed by SWAT was acting in defense, family says
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- New details are emerging about Jose Guerena, the man killed last Thursday in a SWAT incident at his Tucson home. He was gunned down by SWAT members while his wife and young child hid in a closet.

Now, the Pima County Sheriff's Department has taken responsibility for the fatal shooting. The SWAT team said it was just executing a narcotics search warrant when Guerena threatened officers with a military rifle. But the Sheriff's Department has changed its story on whether Guerena actually fired at anyone.

Now, Pima County Sheriff's officials are refuting original claims that Guerena fired at the SWAT members. In fact, they confirmed his safety was still on when his gun was recovered. Also, officials said that reports that some SWAT officers' shields were riddled with bullets are also untrue.
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A smashed window and a barrage of bullet holes might be the type of scene a battle-hardened Marine would find in a war zone but not the Tucson home he shared with his two children and wife. Guerena's wife, Vanessa, said her husband died thinking he was protecting his family from an invasion.

Jose had just come home from working at the mine. Vanessa said he had fallen asleep two hours before, only to wake up to chaos in his house. It was Pima County SWAT executing a narcotics conspiracy search warrant, but according to her, neither she nor her husband knew it was the authorities until it was too late.

Vanessa said Jose grabbed a gun to protect himself from what he thought were home invaders. But, authorities said the Marine knew who it was; and they said he had SWAT in his sights. According to officials, Jose crouched with his AR-15 and said, "I have something for you!"

"Now, they're saying this now that they admitted for him not shooting back (SIC). They want to throw more dirt on him," said cousin Oscar Garcia.

SWAT gunned Jose down with 71 rounds fired in just about seven seconds; officials said they did not expect Vanessa to be home with their four-year-old son, Joel, who ended up witnessing his dad's death. Now he has questions about what happened, like so many others.
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Jose's relatives want his children to know he did his best to be a great husband, dad and patriot.

Authorities told KGUN9 that three other neighborhood homes were targeted Thursday, all tied to a narcotics conspiracy. They say a large amount of cash was found at one of the homes. But, not at the Guerena house; all they said they found there was "evidence pertinent to the case." At this time, officials aren't saying anything more. However, Vanessa Guerena has insisted there were no drugs or money in their home.

Why in the world wouild they admit that they had the wrong house with a large wrongfull death Lawsuit pending ?They found no evidence of narcotics or large sums of money .His gun was unfired and his body was bullet riddled .He was alive when they dragged his body outside while they refused him medical care as he bled to death .Sounds like a lawyers dream to me .And after reading that you feel as if they had the correct house .

Why in the world wouild they admit that they had the wrong house with a large wrongfull death Lawsuit pending ?They found no evidence of narcotics or large sums of money .His gun was unfired and his body was bullet riddled .He was alive when they dragged his body outside while they refused him medical care as he bled to death .Sounds like a lawyers dream to me .And after reading that you feel as if they had the correct house .

What indicates it was the wrong house? They may have made a mistake in terms of the overall investigation, but that doesn't mean they made a mistake on executing the warrant with regards to having the correct address they were to search.

Why in the world wouild they admit that they had the wrong house with a large wrongfull death Lawsuit pending ?They found no evidence of narcotics or large sums of money .His gun was unfired and his body was bullet riddled .He was alive when they dragged his body outside while they refused him medical care as he bled to death .Sounds like a lawyers dream to me .And after reading that you feel as if they had the correct house .

I haven't read anything in either of the threads you've posted about this that gives even a shred of credibility to YOUR unsubstantiated claim that they had the wrong house.

I haven't read anything in either of the threads you've posted about this that gives even a shred of credibility to YOUR unsubstantiated claim that they had the wrong house.

Well, it's happened before. Bad intel led to the wrong house but that wouldn't be the fault of this SWAT team. That falls on the investigators. I'd like to know if they followed procedure. Even if they just barged in, did they announce they were the police? And if they did, did they order this man to lower his weapon? If they just went in, saw a guy with a rifle, and started shooting, heads are going to roll. In my department, in order to use deadly force, there must be an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm to you or someone else. Even under those conditions, you must account for the possibility of others in the house. Usually 2 shots will suffice, not 71. I'm really interested in their training because I know in my training, unless I slept through it, raining a hail of bullets shouldn't be in any department's SOP outside of Hollywood movies.

Someone pointing an assualt rifle at me qualifies an imminent threat to life. It takes a fraction of a second to pull that trigger. In an enclosed environment like a house, you can't take the chance of waiting for that first shot.

That's just my opinion on the matter. 71 shots was excessive. I'd attribute it to jumpy officers who'd never been in that situation before.

In most sports, cold-cocking an opposing player repeatedly in the face with a series of gigantic Slovakian uppercuts would get you a multi-game suspension without pay.

In hockey, it means you have to sit in the penalty box for five minutes.

Someone pointing an assualt rifle at me qualifies an imminent threat to life. It takes a fraction of a second to pull that trigger. In an enclosed environment like a house, you can't take the chance of waiting for that first shot.

That's just my opinion on the matter. 71 shots was excessive. I'd attribute it to jumpy officers who'd never been in that situation before.

Which is my point. Their training is faulty. This is because in a lot of cases, SWAT teams are built not on the best for the job but because you're friends with the head of the team.